India witness 28.9% rise in visa grants under VoA scheme

India has witnessed an increase in the number of visas granted under the visa on arrival scheme. A total of 2,170 visas were granted in September 2014, which represents a rise of 28.9% when compared to same period over last year where only 1,683 visas were issued.

Notably, twelve nations were issued with the visas, which includes South Korea holding 530 visas, 496 for Japan, Singapore with 310, New Zealand with 300, 201 for the Philippines, Indonesia with 200, 68 granted for Finland, 27 for Vietnam and Myanmar, Cambodia with 6, Laos with 3 and 2 for Luxembourg.

A statement from the Press Information Bureau said that 19,290 VoAs were granted on a whole between January and September, which is up by 39.2% of the number of VoAs issued during the same period last year when only 13,859 VoAs were issued.

Japan was granted with 3,950 visas following South Korea with 3,560, New Zealand with 2,890, Singapore with 2,682, the Philippines with 2,527, Indonesia with 2,225, Finland with 760, Myanmar with 293, Vietnam with 196, Cambodia with 99, Luxembourg with 91 and Laos with 17 visas.

In a bid to attract overseas tourists, Indian government initiated the Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme in January 2010 for nationals of five countries, which includes Luxembourg, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan.

India has extended VoA scheme in January 2011 for the nationals of six more countries- the . Also, the scheme was extended to South Korea as well.